Political reform, pro-Western policies from the government, and the formation of a fundamentalist civil rights movement were dominant themes in Saudi Arabia in 1993 as economic recovery continued following the aftermath of the Kuwait invasion crisis of 1990-91.

In July Abdullah ibn Amr Nassif, a former dean of King Abdul Aziz University, Jiddah, was named vice chairman of the majlis ash-shura (Consultative Council) to preside over the 60-member advisory body. The other members (whose names were also published) were appointed by King Fahd and drawn from the ranks of tribal and religious leaders, the professions, academics, and businessmen. One-third of the all-male majlis were former civil servants, but observers noted that none of the 5,000 princes from the ruling as-S’aud family had been included. Only one Shi’ite was identified as a member of the council, which officially opened on December 29.

In proceeding with the council, King Fahd was seen as having begun to fulfill the pledge made in 1962 by Faysal when he was crown prince. On August 20 a law was published covering the operations of the council and laying down formal rules for the conduct of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet). Among other provisions, the law specified a four-year term of office for ministers, although extensions were possible.

The king also divided the existing Ministry of Pilgrimage Affairs and Religious Trusts into two ministries. Mahmoud ibn Muhammad Safar was named minister of pilgrimage affairs, while the existing minister retained responsibility for religious endowments. Observers interpreted this change as a sign of the government’s determination to strengthen the official religious establishment against the challenge posed by fundamentalists. It also recognized the growing complexity of handling the annual pilgrimage (hajj), when Muslims pour into the kingdom to visit the holy cities of Medina and Mecca. The Saudi government had adopted a quota system for pilgrims from different countries in order to reduce the possibility of thousands of radicals infiltrating the holy places.

The 1993 hajj season passed off quietly, with the Saudi authorities taking a tough line against political demonstrations. Nevertheless, police were forced to ban a planned demonstration by Iranian pilgrims on May 27. On June 1 demonstrators managed to assemble and shout anti-Israel and anti-American slogans.

In a further round of political reforms, on September 16 King Fahd issued a decree confirming the internal organization of the kingdom into 13 regions under governors (emirs). The decree created councils for each governorate with a mandate "to monitor development and advise the government."

Despite these changes, King Fahd for the first time in his reign faced a challenge from within the establishment. On May 9 academics and religious leaders belonging to the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights--an organization with a religious manifesto--called on the government to "safeguard the legitimate rights of the Shari’ah." (In 1992 members of the committee had put their names to a petition calling for reform of the government and a return to Islamic values.) Three days later, as the crisis escalated, the 20-member Supreme Council of ulema (religious elders), headed by the blind divine Sheikh Abdel-Aziz ibn Baz, declared the committee’s declaration to be "illegal" and reminded Saudis of the "duty of all Muslims to obey the king and the ulema."

On May 13 five men, all religious conservatives from within the establishment but associated with the committee, were dismissed from their jobs: Muhammad ibn al-Masa`ari of King Saud University, Riyadh; Abdullah al-Hamid and Abdullah at-Tuwaijari, both of the Islamic University of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud, Riyadh; Hamad as-Sulaifeh of the Ministry of Education; and Abdullah al-Jubrin, who worked for a religious organization for Islamic research. Jubrin, however, resigned from the committee on May 20 and declared his loyalty to the government. On May 15 Masa`ari, who was the most prominent of the rebels, was arrested, and religious police subsequently detained Hamid and Tuwaijari. A group of 60 academics signed a petition to the king in August demanding the release of detained members of the committee.

Saudi Arabia’s human rights record also came under attack from the London-based organization Amnesty International, which said in a critical report that capital punishment by beheading with a single stroke of a sword had been carried out on 105 people in 1992-93--four times as many as the previous year, when U.S. and allied soldiers were in the kingdom as part of Operation Desert Storm.

King Fahd permitted the U.S. to operate air strikes against Iraq in January during the last days of Pres. George Bush’s administration, with sorties being flown from military bases at az-Zahran, Riyadh, at-Ta`if, and Khamis Mushayt. Relations with the U.S. remained cordial after the inauguration of Pres. Bill Clinton. King Fahd gave his support for the agreement signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel on September 13 in a move that helped to give further momentum to the peace process.

On January 28 U.K. Prime Minster John Major confirmed an order from the Saudi government for 48 Tornado aircraft as part of the al-Yamamah project signed in 1988. Prince Charles met King Fahd in Jiddah on November 7 in an effort to strengthen business ties between the two states. Saudi foreign policy retained a strong pro-Western and anti-Iraqi line, with Crown Prince Abdullah welcoming a delegation from the opposition London-based Iraqi National Congress, an umbrella organization of Iraqi underground groups, on May 26.

Within OPEC, Saudi Arabia maintained a moderate stance by accepting an unchanged oil output quota of eight million barrels a day on September 29. Saudi Arabia was the only country to volunteer no increase. Its share of total OPEC production (22.7 million bbl a day) was its lowest since August 1990, but Saudi Arabia enjoyed an economic boom produced by sustained government spending. Bank profits increased and liquidity increased in the nascent Saudi stock market.

The London-based Center for Global Energy Studies, which was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, said in a report in October that the kingdom would easily be able to expand its theoretical capacity of 9.6 million bbl a day to 10 million bbl a day by 1994 if the government chose. Nevertheless, the report’s author said the government would need to invest at least $18 billion before 2000 to reach and maintain its 10 million bbl a day capacity. He said there was little possibility of new fields, such as the giant Shaybah field near the United Arab Emirates border, because of their remoteness and lack of infrastructure.

In October the Saudi Arabian national soccer team delighted its supporters throughout the kingdom by qualifying for the first time to play in the finals of the World Cup in the U.S. in 1994. John Whelan

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